Podiatrists Ruston LA

A physician should be consulted whenever you’re concerned about foot pain. Even if you aren’t concerned about anything foot-related, make sure your physician includes your feet in annual checkups: not all ailments have pain as a symptom.

Podiatrists

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Podiatrists

A physician’s input is vital when it comes to foot pain

A physician should be consulted whenever you’re concerned about foot pain. Even if you aren’t concerned about anything foot-related, make sure your physician includes your feet in annual checkups: not all ailments have pain as a symptom.

A general practitioner should be able to help you with most of the causes of pain. Athlete’s foot can be cured with a topical solution, while warts may need to be frozen off (it’s less painful than it sounds). Corns or calluses can be removed painlessly by a doctor in a brief office visit (the tissue has no nerves in it, so a quick procedure with a scalpel can often take care of the problem).

Even more complex problems are within the expertise of a GP. If you’re a runner and you’re experiencing pain in your Achilles tendon, it doesn’t take a medical degree to know that the first thing you should try is a short break from running.

But some problems will require a higher degree of knowledge. In those cases, you will need to consult a podiatrist: a physician who specializes in the body’s lower extremities, in particular the ankles and feet. Podiatrists, once called chiropodists, have existed as a specialized profession since at least the mid-19th century (the term “chiropodist” has been retained in some parts of the English-speaking world; where both exist, describing two different professions, podiatry may denote a more in-depth level of education and specialization). In many parts of the world, podiatrists attend school separately from the rest of the medical profession. For example, in America, they are known as Doctors of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), and they are licensed to perform surgery on the foot and ankle. (It should also be said that there is some crossover between tradition medical school and podiatric medical school; a DPM’s knowledge doesn’t end at the calves.)

Podiatrists may have their areas of specialty. For example, some practices focus ...

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